Knee injury forces Dogs star Dale Morris to retire

Much-respected Western Bulldogs veteran Dale Morris has played his last AFL game with the premiership defender announcing his retirement.

The 36-year-old's ability to play through pain became the stuff of AFL legend across his 253-game career, but a third serious knee injury in the past 18 months has proved to be the last straw.

The 2016 premiership hero ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in his first AFL match of the season, in round 19 against Fremantle at Marvel Stadium, and underwent a traditional knee reconstruction which generally requires 10 to 12 months recovery time.

"It turns out you can't play footy forever," an emotional Morris told a press conference at Whitten Oval on Friday.

"I was trying to.

"I said as a young guy coming through that I would keep playing footy until my legs dropped off and over the last couple of years my legs have literally tried to drop off.

"It was time to call it.

"I'm one of those people who feel like I could play footy forever but we've had some good discussions with Bevo and the footy club and the best decision is to retire."